A/N: Chapter two, enjoy!
"Rosie!" As I walk towards my first class of the day (Charms), I suddenly feel an arm being wrapped around me. It seems that someone decided that they'd rather be dead now than… some other time. "My favourite cousin!"
Wrenching myself out of his grip (for which I may have used my nails… What? He could've seen it coming!), I reply, "Albus! My diary stealer!"
"Oh, Rosie," he says airily, "you know it's just for fun, right? We mean no harm." Excuse me while I snort. No harm? Yes, Al, and Voldemort meant no harm either. "Really. We don't. We're just having a good time."
"Well, I'm not," I respond stiffly. "Now give me back my diary or do I have to snatch it from your corpse?"
He laughs, but, although he tries to cover it up, it doesn't sound completely genuine. Considering the fact that I almost drowned him in the bathtub when we were little, and later in the swimming pool, on more than one occasion, and judging from the fact that he's now walking a little further away from me, I can happily conclude that he is really sort of afraid of me at the moment. I love to be intimidating.
"Albus," I say threateningly, "I mean it. Give me my diary back."
"I don't have it," he replies, a smirk slowly forming on his face. "Do you really think we'd risk losing it again, now that we have it? Do you really think we're that stupid?" Well – maybe. I mean, the other three are Ravenclaws, but Al can be rather stupid at times. He's dating Erin Vane. That's all the proof you need.
I look around swiftly. Nobody is there. Perfect. With a loud war cry, I jump Albus and try to grab his bag from him. Yes – I love being dramatic on occasion. Anyway, I seem to have caught Al by surprise, for he doesn't do anything at first. That gives me the chance to rip open his bag and spill its contents on the floor. And then he falls, but fortunately (for me), I fall on top of him instead of the other way around. If we weren't related, this would be very awkward, I think.
I frantically search through his stuff, only to conclude that he was right – he doesn't have my diary. He was speaking the truth – for once.
"Al? Rose? What are you two doing on the floor?" Oh no. No no no no no no no no. This is just cruel. This cannot be happening. This – ouch!
"Al!" I shout at him as he shoves me off of him to get up. Perfect. I look like a fool now.
"Rose here," Al starts, nodding towards me. All the niceness in his voice is gone and to be honest, I am glad for that. He hasn't been nice to me for years now. "Rose here decided to jump me for no reason."
"Not true!" I protest, picking myself up from the floor as well. I try to smooth out my skirt and hair and then plant my hands on my hips. "He stole my diary and I want it back. Is that so difficult to believe?" Too late do I realise that I just snapped. I shouldn't snap. To Al, by all means, yes, but to him? That's just not done.
"I'd rather stay out of this," he says quickly, and I notice that he's beginning to grow red. He's so cute when he's uncomfortable. Alright, Rose, focus.
"It's good to know that there are still decent people at this school," I say, not daring to look him in the eye but glaring at Al instead. "You should really follow your friend's example, Al." With that, I walk away. As soon as I am around the corner, I stop again. Decent people? Decent? Seriously? And 'your friend'? As if I don't even know his name!
I manage to refrain myself from banging my head into the wall, and choose to continue walking towards the Charms classroom instead. I sit down next to Miranda Davies, a Ravenclaw girl in my year. It's either her, or Malfoy. The moment Al walks in and takes his seat next to Malfoy, I realise that this would've been a great chance for me to interrogate him, since if I would've sat down there, neither of his cronies would be anywhere near. Now Al can just sit with his best mate (don't even ask how that happened – I have no idea), which, of course, he did, and they start whispering immediately. Judging from the looks they cast my way, I have a feeling that I know what they are talking about. Lovely.
Miranda and I don't talk very much (alright, only when necessary). We hardly know each other, so we don't have a lot to talk about anyway.
"Rose!" I whip around, half expecting to see Al again, before realising that it was a female voice that called my name. And indeed, it is my other Potter cousin who's still attending Hogwarts.
"Lily! What's wrong?"
Lily smiles wryly. "Al keeps talking about how you… assaulted him in the middle of a corridor. Please tell me he's lying?"
I cough, and I'm pretty sure my facial colour strongly resembles that of my hair at this point. "Actually, he's telling the truth for once, Lily. I kind of – jumped him because he was taunting me about my diary."
Lily's face darkens. "What did he say?"
"He's not giving it back," I tell her, even though she probably already guessed that he hadn't returned my diary to me. "So I wanted to take it back myself, but someone else must've had it at that point."
Lily nods. "Are you sure I shouldn't write mum and dad?"
"Positive," I say, feeling confident all of a sudden. I'll get that diary back myself, no matter what I have to do for it. They will never, ever read even one letter I wrote in there. I am sure of that.
"Rose? Why are you suddenly grinning like a maniac?"
Hastily, I wipe the grin off my face and stare ahead blankly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lily. But would you mind helping me to get my diary back?"
She shrugs in response. "Sure, I guess. That'll teach Al to mess with us!" And that is our cue to start laughing evilly. You'd almost think we practise this regularly. The students who pass by do look a little scared, so we must be laughing quite impressively. Or, you know, they might fear that going to the same school as the two lunatics that they may hold Lily and me for right now will make them insane as well.
Walking towards the common room after dinner, I am intercepted once again. Three guesses who now… right, it's Al again. I cross my arms and glare at him, but he is not impressed. Shame.
"I think you owe me an apology," he says bluntly, and my eyebrows shoot up.
"Excuse me?" I laugh humourlessly. "I owe you an apology? Are you not the person who stole my diary?"
Al's face remains utterly blank. "You attacking me earlier was completely uncalled for."
"And you stealing my diary was not uncalled for?" I can not believe this boy's nerve. If he didn't look exactly like his father, I would say he was adopted. We simply cannot be related.
"That's not the point – " he starts, but I interrupt him.
"That is the point, Al! If you hadn't stolen my diary, I wouldn't have had to jump you earlier! So it is your own stupid fault if you got hurt."
He snorts. "Hurt? You wish, Rosie."
We are now in front of the Fat Lady, and after giving her the password, I scramble in, hoping that my cousin will leave me alone now. Unfortunately, I have no such luck.
"Anyway, Rose," he starts, and I noticed that his voice is suddenly much calmer and nicer. Very suspicious. "Let's make a deal, alright? You tell me how to unlock that diary of yours – " At this, I snort. Does he honestly expect me to tell him that? Wait a second – that means that they haven't read it yet! " – so, Rosie, what do you think?"
"Think of what?" I ask. I missed the second half of his proposition due to my superb concentration skills. "Of how I'm going to tell you how to read my diary? How stupid do you think I am?"
His eyes narrow. "So you'd rather wait until we find out ourselves and make it known to the entire school what you've written?"
"No," I tell him, and a victorious smirk forms on his lips, "I'd much rather have my diary back, thank you very much." The smirk disappears as quickly as it appeared, and Al narrows his eyes again.
"You can forget about that, Rose," he says softly, but angrily, and then he stomps past me towards the boys' dorms.
Drat. Now they are going to do absolutely everything to find out how to read my diary. Walking up the stairs to my own dorm, I mull over the options I have. I could tell them how they can open it and not know what they will do then (firstly because I didn't hear Al say that part, and secondly because I don't know if I can (or should) trust them). I quickly decide against that. Perhaps it will be better to just keep on trying to get it back and hope that they won't be able to read it in the meantime.
What are the chances of them finding out? They have to learn of and master a spell I thought up especially to keep nosy people away. Besides, I have to say the spell and hold the diary. There is no way that they can ever open it and read what I wrote.
Feeling more confident now, I grab a few books and go to the library. I have to finish two essays and the sooner I am done with that, the sooner I can go back to my diary hunting.
When I am halfway done with my Charms essay – I finished the Potions one already – footsteps approach my table. I don't look up because this happens all the time, and usually, those footsteps just pass by. Now, however, they don't.
"Weasley," a voice says, and from the shuffling of feet in front of me, I conclude that there has to be more than one person standing there. Looking up, I see that I was right; it is Al and his buddies, and it is Malfoy who has spoken. Therefore, I focus my attention on him.
"Malfoy," I say as coldly as I possibly can. "What do you want now?" My question is actually directed at Al, though I keep on glaring at Malfoy.
"We want to know your secret." Malfoy's voice is barely audible, yet I can hear him loud and clear.
"Forget about that," I answer in an equally low voice. A swift glance at Al tells me that he already expected this. Obviously, Malfoy didn't believe him when he told him about me denying them the right to read my diary and now the idiot wanted to see for himself. "Now, leave me alone. I have some work left to do and I don't need you polluting my air." I glance at a spot somewhere in between Al and Malfoy as I say this, but then I return to my essay. I can hear the sound of their feet as they walk away in defeat and I smirk to myself. Too soon, unfortunately.
"This is not over, Rose." Apparently, Al stayed behind a little longer. "This war has barely started."
I glare at him, narrowing my eyes. "Bring it on, dear cousin. Or should I write your parents, perhaps? I bet they'll love to hear what you've done now." I shake my head in mock disappointment, but Al just rolls his eyes.
"If that's how you want to play, Rosie, then go ahead," he says through clenched teeth. "I would've expected you to be up to the challenge. Obviously, I was wrong."
By now, I am standing as well. Unfortunately, I'm still many inches shorter than him. "Like I said, Albus – bring it on." I grab my books and with my head up high, I quickly exit the library as Madam Pince (yes, she's still here. How? I have no idea) starts shouting at Al for raising his voice in the library (ironic, no?).
A/N: Once again, what do you think? Like it, hate it? Let me know, please review? :)